Saturday, November 12, 2016

You may cheer and rejoice, my spylings, because we are journeying to brave Mother Russia today and tomorrow spotlighting some of their upcoming epic films. We start our Russian movie weekend with the new trailer and photos from their epic historical spectacle FURIOUS or LEGEND OF KOLOVRAT (Легенда о Коловрате) which should storm into cinemas sometime next April if I'm not mistaken! Ilya Malakov, Aleksey Serebryakov and Alexandr Junior Iliin are leading the cast of the 13th century movie.

LEGEND OF KOLOVRAT The story starts in the XIII Century. Russia is fragmented and is
about to fall on its knees in front of Batu Khan of the Golden Horde.
Incinerating the city of Ryazan and bathing Russian land with blood, the
invaders do not meet serious resistance, and only one warrior
challenges them. Young Knight Yevpaty Kolovrat gathered 1700 people from
his soldiers and the survivors of the siege, and went after Batu Khan
with a sole purpose of avenging the carnage. Kolovrat's forces suddenly
attacked the rear guard of Batu Khan's army and annihilated it in a
fierce battle. Perplexed, Batu Khan sent a much larger force led by his
relative Khostovrul. Khostovrul promised to capture Kolovrat alive, and
for this purpose challenged Kolovrat for a duel. A man of extraordinary
strength, Kolovrat split his opponent in half with his sword, and proceeded to kill the surrounding Mongols, splitting many of them down
to the saddle. The remaining Khostovrul's soldiers retreated and killed
Kolovrat from a distance using stone launchers. In a sign of respect to
Kolovrat's bravery, Batu Khan returned his body to his soldiers and let
them return home his name will forever remain in the memory of the
people. He was warrior who has become a legend. His was the feat that
has lived on for centuries. FURIOUS is not just a story about the war
against Mongols and Tatars but about a man's faithfulness and love for
his birthplace.

but it is interesting that Russians always loved snow, because it eases travelling, as weird it sounds. Sleighs travel much faster and easier than wheels. Great Russian Tzarina Catherine used to travel with imperial convoys which would include up to 200 sleighs and 600 horses (which they would change at every relay station), talk about journeying imperial style :)